Celtic FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014/15 Mod Warning post #6011

Dempsey wrote: »

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/mo-bangura-launches-astonishing-blast-2142926

Bangura was having bit of a moan about Scott Brown not shaking his hand afterwards which is strange considering Brown usually makes a point about shaking the hand of lads that be clipping his heels all match. Nothing in it anyways.

Interesting to see his comments about how he felt about playing and his Celtic future.





His loan deal is up in November, I actually wish we had him in the next round. A better target man than Stokes or Samaras will ever be. Hopefully, we'll see more of Balde over the next few weeks, surely he's a decent lone striker.

Looking forward to the draw this morning too!

Jelle1880 wrote: »

Big spending club, lots of oil money behind it.

But would be surprised if Celtic don't go through.

Grant Russell ‏@STVGrant 22m

No idea where the myth that Shakhtyor Karagandy are an expensively put together squad comes from.

Callum McCormick ‏@FeelTheCritique 20m

@STVGrant Mark Guidi said it on Clyde1 last night but according to Wiki, their squad is made up almost entirely of Kazakhs.

Grant Russell ‏@STVGrant 20m

@FeelTheCritique Maybe he thought they were Ludogorets.

Celtic have been drawn to face Shakhtyor Karagandy in the play-off round of the UEFA Champions League, the first time a Scottish side will face Kazakh opposition in Europe.

What lies in wait for Neil Lennon's side against a team which eliminated BATE Borisov earlier in the competition? We've scraped together as much information as possible on Celtic's opponents.

Celtic will play away from home first on August 20 or 21, before welcoming their opponents back to Glasgow on August 27 or 28. The away leg will be played in Astana and not Karaganda.

Who are Shakhtyor Karagandy?

Champions of the Kazakhstan Premier League for the past two seasons, they survived being expelled from the league for five years back in 2009 when the club was caught up in a match fixing scandal. On appeal, the club were docked nine points.

They have been ever presents in the top flight since its formation in 1992 but failed to trouble the top until their back-to-back title successes in 2011 and 2012.

How did they qualify?

Their run in this season's UEFA Champions League suggests Celtic won't be in for an easy ride.

BATE Borisov, top seeds in the second qualifying round ahead of Lennon's men, were defeated 2-0 on aggregate, with the Kazakhs winning 1-0 in both games.

Albanian side Skënderbeu Korçë were then eliminated 5-3 over two legs for Shakhtyor to book their place in the final stage before the groups. A 3-0 home win was followed up by 3-2 defeat away.

What are their best results in Europe?

This season represents their best ever season in European competition, reaching the play-off round for the first time in their history.

They were eliminated at the first time of asking in their debut season in the Champions League last season, falling to Slovan Liberec 2-1 after extra time.

They featured in the UEFA Cup and Europa League in previous years, defeating Koper but losing to Debrecen, Ruch Chorzow and St Patrick's Athletic over three seasons.

Where are they in their current campaign?

Shakhtyor are halfway through their league season, finishing third after a 22-game first half of the campaign, 12 points behind leaders Aktobe.

Like in Scotland, they have now qualified for the championship group, with points reset for the second half of the season.

Current squad

Their squad is heavily comprised of local players with 16 members of the team from Kazakhstan with a few representatives from Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Serbia, Belarus and Armenia.

Lithuanian midfielder Gediminas Vičius was the club’s top scorer in the Kazakhstan Premier League last season with seven goals. This season, Sergey Khizhnichenko and Roger Canas have shared nine goals between them.

Their new dangerman however is Igor Zenkovich, who has bagged three goals since moving mid-season from Akzhayik, where he had netted nine goals in 12 matches.

Defensively, Shakhtyor have kept three clean sheets in their four Champions League qualifiers so far and only conceded 15 goals as they claimed the 2012 title.

Stadium

Shakhtar Karagandy normally play at the 19,000 capacity Shakhtyor Stadium in Karaganda.

If the game is played there, Celtic fans will be relieved to know that it's a grass pitch, and the bowl stadium is home to one of Kazakhstan's finest Oomph Bands.

However, they have played their previous games at the Astana Arena in Astana, a 30,000 stadium with an artificial surface.

How to get there

Flights to Karaganda aren't cheap and are even more complicated. You can fly from Heathrow to Almaty and then on to Karaganda for around £900 with BA and then Air Astana.

There are alternatives via Abu Dhabi and Amsterdam, which are slightly cheaper, but significantly longer haul.

All visitors will need a visa from the Kazakh government, which will set you back £35.

You need to post a letter detailing where you are staying, copies of your travel insurance and flight details, along with your passport and a passport photo to 125 Pall Mall, SW1Y 5EA

Karaganda is five hours ahead of UK time and the kick-off time for the away leg is likely to be 5pm BST. Temperatures for the season tend to average around 18 degrees.

Celtic will play away from home first on August 20 or 21, before welcoming their opponents back to Glasgow on August 27 or 28.

DEFENDER, Kelvin Wilson has today (Friday), returned to Nottingham Forest after two years with Celtic.

The centre-half signed a pre-contract with the Hoops in January, 2011 from the City Ground club before officially teaming up with Celtic in July of that year and he made his debut in the 2011/12 season opener, a 2-0 over Hibernian at Easter Road.

That was the first of 72 starts and three substitute appearances for the side, the last of which was Wednesday night’s UEFA Champions League qualifier against Elfsborg.

Wilson also won two championship medals and a Scottish Cup winner’s medal and everyone at Celtic Football Club wishes him every success in his future career..

damian139 wrote: »

Celtic fielding only a handful of first team players tomoro?

"They're a very physical team - their back four are six foot up to six foot six," said Duff.

"Midfield are exactly the same and up front they tend to put a lot of high balls in.

"They're a very physical team and Celtic will probably under-estimate them a little bit - they tend to throw the ball in from the halfway line and they used that last year to their benefit. That's how they scored 90 percent of their goals."

"The main thing will be they will have to do quite well over here," said Duff.

"The conditions won't be ideal - the tie will be played in the evening, so the weather won't be too much of a factor - it'll be quite cool - but Shakhter are very strong at the back with four experienced players and two that sit just in front of them, especially away from home.

"They're not the most mobile back four. If Celtic play short, sharp passing, they could penetrate them. However, at home, they'll come out and try to get a result - because at Celtic Park, it'll be hard for them.

"The stadium is state of the art - better than most SPL stadiums, it's a really fantastic place to play.

"Although, it's synthetic, and I think Celtic played Elfsborg on synthetic, so they'll be used to it. It's a modern stadium and it'll be packed to the rafters."